Learn to Stop Broadcasting Your Brags and Beats
Some time ago during my online poker adventures, I experienced an especially frustrating, lengthy downswing. We all have our ups and downs at the tables, but this one was special. I remember it lasting through the holiday season, as though the Poker Gods (bless their souls) decided it would be a great present to give me a longer-than-usual test of my poker resolve.
No matter what I did at the poker table it was wrong. If I got my chips in with pocket kings, someone would be sitting there with aces. Committing my stack with top set would often see my opponent go runner-runner for a flush. We’ve all been there and it isn’t fun, but it is part of the game and we have to accept it.
This article isn’t about me bemoaning my bad luck, it’s actually quite the opposite of that. In fact, it’s an article pleading with you not to moan about losing at all and even goes as far to suggest you shouldn’t celebrate when you win either!
As I said in the second paragraph of this article, losing is a part of poker. The quicker you accept you will lose — and lose frequently — when playing poker, the better. How you deal with losing will shape you as a poker player and it is often the case that the most profitable players are those who manage to control their emotions when they are not winning.
How many times have you texted a friend a bad beat story? How often have you said to yourself something along the lines of “an ace always flops when I have queens or kings”? You need to rid yourself of this negative mindset because you will eventually start to believe that what you are saying is true, and this makes losing even more difficult to take because you’ll think the whole world is against you!
When I was in the middle of my losing streak I was regularly updating on Facebook and Twitter. Often my comments were tongue-in-cheek, but for the most part I felt like moaning via social media was my way of not tilting, when in reality it was actually another form of tilt.
A professional player from the UK took it upon himself to contact me via Facebook to give some advice about dealing with losing. His main point took some time to get into my head. He told me that I needed to stop bragging about my wins first and foremost and then when I inevitably lost, losing would be easier to endure.
I thought at first that he had lost the plot, but then started to think about what he had said. It made sense.
While I think anyone would be overjoyed at winning the life-changing sums on offer at European Poker Tour events or at the World Series of Poker, does winning $100 here or $300 there really make a difference in the long run? When was the last time you saw a top professional poker player moan about losing? (Aside from Phil Hellmuth, that is.) What about bragging about winning “normal” sums? The best, most consistently successful players simply don’t do either and neither should you if you want longevity in poker.
Try to become numb — for want of a better word — to winning and losing. Instead concentrate on what you can control, namely, playing to the best of your ability. Create big highs for yourself when you win and the lows caused by losing will be much worse. Be impartial to winning and losing and there should be no lows for you to worry about, ever.
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